Closing Toronto drug consumption sites would be 'deadly': expert
CBC
As Toronto learns more about the province's expected move to ban drug consumption sites near schools and child-care centres, one advocate says the restrictions will be a "deadly mistake."
Health Minister Sylvia Jones is set to make an announcement Tuesday afternoon to that effect, a move expected to lead to a total of five closures of consumption and treatment services sites in Toronto.
Diana Chan McNally, a Toronto community worker, said the province needs to rethink the move, saying the restrictions will only contribute to more deaths.
"This is a deadly mistake," Chan McNally said in an interview Tuesday.
"The fact that we are essentially leveraging zoning legislation to shut down life-saving services, arguing that it's in the best interest of children and [the] best interest of safety is actually ludicrous."
A spokesperson for Premier Doug Ford says the province will be introducing more addiction recovery supports and new treatment hubs as part of the announcement Jones is set to make at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference.
The 10 Ontario sites that will be forced to close due to the new rules include five in Toronto, and one each in Ottawa, Kitchener, Thunder Bay, Hamilton and Guelph.
The province's announcement follows two reviews of the sites that the government ordered in the wake of the killing of a Toronto woman, who was hit by a stray bullet from a shooting near one of the sites.
Karolina Huebner-Makurat had been walking through the southeast Toronto neighbourhood of Leslieville shortly after noon on July 7, 2023, when she was shot as a fight broke out between three alleged drug dealers.
Chan McNally said she thinks the move will do the opposite of improving safety.
"People aren't going to disappear immediately. They're going to still be in the area," she said.
"So what people are going to see [is] more drug use actually outside and in their communities and it's unfortunate for everybody. We will see lots of people, thousands of people actually dying as a result."
A recent policy paper on opioid use from AMO had the municipalities calling for a more collaborative approach and said that consumption sites save lives.
"Supervised consumption sites are an important component of Ontario's harm reduction approach," the association wrote.
Police services across northern Ontario say most illicit drugs circulating in their communities are being transported from southern parts of the province, while prescription drugs diverted into the illegal market continue to pose a serious and ongoing threat.
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